“Nothing as their own; everything in common”

The text of Acts invites us to look at the first group of Christians and reminds us of the gestures of some communities we have known. It may be useful to read a passage from the second century, by an anonymous author, questions of a certain Diognetus, which answers the about the life of Christians.

“Who is this God in whom they trust so much; what is that love they have for each other… and why did this new race or way of life appear now and not before?” “Christians are not distinguished from others either by their land, their language, or their customs… The doctrine which is proper to them has not been found by the intelligence and speculation of curious persons, nor do they make a profession, as some do, of following a certain human opinion, but, dwelling in the Greek or barbarian cities, according to the lot of each one, and following the customs of each region in regard to dress, food, and the other things of life, they show themselves to be living an admirable and, by everyone’s admission, extraordinary tenor of life. They dwell in their own homelands, but as foreigners; they participate in everything like citizens, but endure everything as foreigners; every foreign land is a homeland for them, and every homeland is a foreign land to them.”

They are poor, and they enrich many. They lack everything, but they have more than enough. To put it briefly, what is the soul in the body, that is the Christians in the world.”                  

What calls do you feel when you learn about the freshness of that testimony?